Butterfly Wings
by Bjorn
Summary: Years before Uzumaki Naruto was born, one Namikaze Minato convinced one Orochimaru to stay in Konoha. The world changed.
1. The Change

Disclaimer: All characters and other thingies within belong to their respective creators.

Beginning Notes: I was a great fan of Naruto. Note the past tense - I've become increasingly sick and tired of the steaming pile of excrement the canon has rapidly become, to the point where I no longer follow it on a regular basis and most of it will hold no bearing on anything I may happen to write. This hasn't stilled my love for the fandom, which has shown itself capable of producing some truly incredibly material despite the fact that the manga it's based on is rapidly de-evolving into a convoluted mess that aught to be retitled _Sasuke_. This idea's been floating with me now for a while, and I finally decided to put pen to paper, as it were.

So without further ado: this is my take on the Naruto universe, with just one change that took place a couple of years before our orange-clad hero was born. The title is, obviously, based on the Butterfly Effect.

Butterfly Wings

Prologue

**The Change**

* * *

_There._

He laid what few possessions he'd be taking on a scroll, sealing them inside with a brief pulse of chakra and a puff of smoke. He shoved it carelessly into his hip holster, not caring whether it ripped or not. After all, his most precious treasures were locked inside the most secure vault of all - his head.

A look of melancholy briefly crossed his features as he turned to look at his stripped, bare room. He _was_ human, no matter what some of his more superstitious peers seemed to think, and to say that he wouldn't miss what had been his home for most of his life would be a lie. There were memories here, _good_ memories, though they numbered few and far between. He cherished them as best as he could, though they had started becoming increasingly distant and unreal - more like dreams than memories - as time went by.

He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and squared his shoulders, pushing the thoughts away with a small effort. Power and knowledge were part of what a ninja was. Dejection and homesickness, on the other hand, were not. Inwardly, he scowled; the old man's weakness (_compassion,_ a small part of him said, but he squashed the thought ruthlessly) must have rubbed off on him.

He didn't think of himself as _evil,_ per se. He just had a different set of morals, and less inclination to hide his intentions. He snorted suddenly, a wry smirk curving his lips upwards as he recalled Sarutobi's appalled reaction to his 'abominations,' as the elder ninja had called them. As if what the Uchiha had done to their own flesh and blood for generations was any better, and look at what it had gotten _them_ - their own little police force.

After all, it wasn't as if any of the villagers he'd _volunteered_ had been doing anything terribly important with their lives. And Anko would thank him when she realized the full potential of the gift that he'd given her.

Probably.

As for the sixty babies... if one of them _did_ show any signs of the First's bloodline traits, he'd have brought back jutsu that had been effectively lost forever.

A pity that Sarutobi hadn't seen things his way.

His thoughts shifted to the other reason he was preparing to leave the village he'd called home for nearly forty years, and he frowned.

Namikaze Minato had been an interesting boy from the moment he'd graduated from ninja academy, showing outstanding levels of aptitude in ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu alike. Though he'd been assigned to Jiraiya's team, the snake sennin had also taken a vested interest in the young genius, taking him under his wing and teaching the boy in addition to his own genin team. He'd even felt a sort of detached pride when the blond had made jounin at the tender age of fourteen, making him one of the youngest to achieve that rank in the history of the Leaf.

He hadn't been prepared for the incredible pace at which the boy had continued to advance, absorbing jutsu at a pace that rivaled his own. And he _certainly_ hadn't been prepared for Sarutobi's declaration that the next Hokage was not going to be him, but Namikaze. The revelation had thoroughly erased any goodwill he might have had for the younger ninja, replacing it with a simmering feeling of resentment and - though he'd never admit it - hurt betrayal.

As if merely thinking of the Hokage-to-be had been some sort of horrible summoning jutsu, barely a moment had passed since his thoughts when a voice came from behind him.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Orochimaru-san."

The man who had spoken watched with a sense of faint fascination as Orochimaru visibly transformed in front of his eyes. The slight slump of his shoulders shifted subtly, his body's language sliding from surprise to cool confidence in one smooth motion. The ninja's face hardened, becoming like a mask, a sheet of wrought metal that slammed down in front of his emotions. It was disturbing, to say the least, to think of how long Orochimaru had fooled him - had fooled _everyone_ - into thinking that it was his 'real' face. It couldn't have been more fake if he'd used a henge.

"To what do I owe this honor, Hokage-sama?" Orochimaru asked smoothly, the honorific more like a curse coming from his mouth. Minato winced at the spite carried in the title, the one that Orochimaru thought of as rightfully his. He had his work cut out for him.

A small part of Orochimaru briefly wondered how Namikaze Minato, with his unruly mop of shining golden hair and electric blue eyes so bright they practically glowed in the dark, could ever have concealed himself in the shadowy room. The rest of him mentally scowled, his brilliant mind rapidly running through a list of jutsu that he might use to get himself out of the situation he found himself in. The presence of Jiraiya's star pupil meant that the perverted idiot himself was probably hidden somewhere nearby as well.

"I'm not the Hokage, sensei," Minato said, biting back a sigh of exasperation as he shed the formal _-san_ honorific for the more familiar term. Not ten seconds had passed since he'd arrived and he was already starting to regret his decision to come here.

"_Yet,_" Orochimaru shot back, his mask slipping a little. "Sarutobi's all but draped the mantle around your shoulders. It's just a matter of time." In reality he hadn't wanted the title so much for itself as for the power the title would have granted him, but Namikaze didn't need to know that.

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he focused on his surroundings. Jiraiya was no slouch at concealing himself thanks to his daily 'research' expeditions to the women's hot springs. Still, even if he still hadn't figured out the secret to that damned invisibility jutsu which Jiraiya and the old man insisted on using only to watch naked women... _still_, Orochimaru's skills in camoflage were second to none.

Which was why it was so disturbing when he could find nothing. Either Jiraiya had suddenly gotten a hell of a lot better at hiding himself in the past week or so since Orochimaru had seen him, or...

"Jiraiya-sensei isn't here," Minato said, spreading his hands apart. Inwardly, Orochimaru groaned; the blond was far too honest for his own good. Admitting potential weaknesses to people they trusted was an irritating character flaw that both Jiraiya and his pupil shared, and one that the snake sennin himself had unsuccessfully tried to purge from them. "I came alone."

"Why?"

Minato didn't reply immediately, instead looking sideways at the tatami neatly snacked on top of one another in the corner.

"I just got back from a mission," he said shortly. Orochimaru read all he needed to know from his former pupil's posture and tone, and nodded. _Must have lost one of them._

"I see," he said, frowning inwardly. "That doesn't explain why you're here."

"I'm here," Minato said, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else, "to keep you from leaving, sensei."

The elder ninja's mind kicked into overdrive as he raced to examine the unexpected turn of events from every possible angle. Outwardly keeping his calm facade, he smiled a humorless smile and replied smoothly, "That's strange, Minato-kun. Because the last I'd checked, the Hokage himself - you know, the man whose word is absolute law in this village - was on the verge of killing me himself, but instead graciously chose to give me the option of desertion and exile to be broken on pain of death. I doubt he suddenly experienced a change of heart in the past three hours or so."

Minato frowned, his vibrant blue eyes darkening to the color of a stormy sea. "We're ninja, not samurai - a fact that Sarutobi-san and Jiraiya-sensei seem to forget all too often," he said sharply, surprising the snake sennin. He'd always assumed that the blond ninja shared the same misguided sense of damn-fool heroism as his mentor. "They often don't understand that the clean, honorable way is not always the best one. There're often paths leading through darkness that reveal better outcomes, and it's exactly because we're ninja that we have the option to take those paths."

Ah. So the boy _had_ learned. Orochimaru leaned forward slightly, intrigued. "And keeping me in Konoha is part of one such path."

Minato nodded. "As a village at war, we can't afford to show any signs of weakness - it's why we keep on taking potentially risky and time-consuming missions even though in reality we need every man, woman and child we can get at the front lines. Our battles are fought with misdirection and false appearances as much as they are with open combat."

Basic ninja strategics, but something that even the best often forget, Orochimaru thought approvingly. For the moment he kept his silence, letting the blond continue.

"How would Iwa take it if one of Konoha's legendary sannin went rogue? You know how the war escalated after Tsunade-san left. They'd probably strike full force as soon as they made sure you really had left. There would be untold losses on both sides, and even if we won we'd be crippled for years."

"Why, Minato-kun," Orochimaru said lightly, an amused light dancing in his eyes. "You say that almost as if you expect me to care."

Minato bit back the frustrated growl that threatened to leave his throat. He reminded himself that one of Orochimaru's favorite weapons on the verbal battlefield was deliberately baiting his opponent, trying to get them to slip up and reveal something. He wasn't going to fall for it.

He knew that Orochimaru was extremely pragmatic - to the point that some of his more disparaging peers said that he was probably part demon - and in all likelihood, _could_ watch Konoha burn to the ground without turning a hair. His loyalties lay not in Konoha, but in the few people he knew as friends, although it was unlikely that he'd ever admit it to their faces. All nine of the bijuu would visit Konoha for a formal tea ceremony before _that_ happened.

That wasn't to say, of course, that he couldn't be tempted. "I wasn't expecting you to do this out of the goodness of your heart, sensei." Minato took a deep breath, and laid all of his cards out on the table. "If you agree to stay as a ninja of the Leaf, I'm prepared to offer total amnesty for what you did. Your former rank of Jounin will be restored, and you will also be granted access to the Hokage's library."

On the surface, all the response he got was a raised eyebrow. Inside, Orochimaru was the closest to frantic he'd been since he was five and taking the genin exam for the first time. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected his former pupil to come out with _this_. "Isn't that a bit much to grant someone who - let's see... not only murdered dozens of innocent Konoha citizens as well as several Leaf ninja in cold blood, but also undertook 'atrocious experiments' on their corpses, implanted a potentially fatal seal onto a young genin who was receiving training under him, and last, but not least, injected foreign DNA into the cells of 5 dozen newborn babies, the large majority - perhaps all - of which will not survive to see their first birthdays?" The snake sennin ticked them off slowly and deliberately on his fingers, hoping to goad Minato into dropping the other shoe.

"Perhaps," Minato agreed, his voice even. "But I don't know of anything else that will get you to stay. The fate of this village hinges on your presence." It wasn't flattery or exaggeration - both ninja knew that it was a distinct and very likely possibility that the Hidden Village of Rock would fall upon the Leaf with all of its combined might once it had confirmed that Orochimaru had left. Especially since both of them knew that Jiraiya was liable to immediately take off after the snake sennin without a second thought in some sort of foolish crusade to bring him back, leaving the village void of all three legendary ninja.

The flat declaration shook Orochimaru more than he let on, but he hung on gamely. He would _not_ fall victim to his own softer side - there had to be a catch, and if he could just prod Namikaze enough that he let something slip...

"And who are you to offer a missing ninja amnesty, and decide the fate of this village, both of which fall under the jurisdiction of the Hokage?"

"Someone soon going to be responsible for the life of every man, woman and child in Konoha," Namikaze said bluntly, his voice gaining strength and confidence as he spoke. The time for hiding behind half-truths and avoidance was past. "Someone willing to give his all to protect the village he values more than his own life."

"I thought you weren't the Hokage?" Orochimaru asked, and scowled. He knew immediately what the answer would be.

"_Yet_," Minato replied, giving his former teacher a humorless grin.

"But I will be soon, and Sarutobi-san respects my judgement; eventually I'll be able to persuade him that this is the right way." The Sandaime Hokage was highly idealistic and slightly blinded by a misplaced sense of justice and honor where he could ill afford to have either. However, he was anything but stupid, and once Minato explained the need for Orochimaru's presence he was sure to acknowledge his soon-to-be successor's reasons, albeit grudgingly.

For his part, Orochimaru would cheerfully commit genocide if it meant gaining access to the Hokage's library; the archives there held the combined knowledge of over a hundred years of ninja, neatly compiled and stored in a collection that was the largest in Fire Country - perhaps in the world. But he'd never jumped blindly into a deal before, and he didn't plan on changing this philosophy simply because the stakes were higher. He stalled. "Assume for a moment that I accept, that the old man doesn't kill me on sight, and the thousand and one things that could go wrong... don't. What's keeping me from simply taking what I want from the library and leaving?"

"I never said you'd be alone, sensei," Minato replied, a quick grin appearing and disappearing on his face like smoke despite the seriousness of the situation. "Four handpicked ANBU will be assigned to escort you during your visits."

"Can you afford to waste four of your finest in a dusty room full of old scrolls?" Orochimaru asked, the brevity of his tone showing none of the displeasure he felt inside. One, or even two, highly trained and alert ninja, he could handle in a heartbeat - he wasn't called _legendary_ for nothing - but four of ANBU caliber...

"I can afford to because I know exactly what someone as good as you can do with those old scrolls," Minato said, steel entering his voice. "You might be able to dispatch of the four ninja I'll assign to you with ease - in fact, I'd bet on it - but unscathed, before any of them could so much as raise an alarm?" _You'd never get out of the village alive,_ were the words that hung unspoken in the air. The blond's normally cheerful blue eyes were hard chips of ice, and to his own surprise the snake sennin found that it was he who looked away first. "I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that Konoha survives this war."

Orochimaru's lips twisted in a sardonic smirk and he made an odd hissing noise through his lips. It took Minato a moment to realize that it was the first time he'd heard his former teacher truly laughing. "Spoken like a true Hokage," the elder ninja said at length, though his voice held little of the spite that had been it earlier. He was too busy for mincing words, too busy checking and double-checking Minato's words for any sign of duplicity.

He decided on a cautious probe. "I suppose I'd have to give up my _experiments_?" he asked lightly, already knowing what the answer was going to be. He was just buying time, and looking for any mistakes Minato might make.

"Of course not," Minato said calmly. "You'd just have to stop performing them on villagers and Leaf ninja. After all, we're a nation at war. There're plenty of prisoners to go around. You can have any that don't have value as potential hostages or bartering chips."

If the circumstances hadn't been quite so serious, Minato suspected he would have had to expend a great amount of willpower to keep from laughing aloud at the expression of shock that appeared and disappeared in an instant on the older man's face.

Orochimaru hissed again, his expression showing clear disbelief and suspicion. "You're..." His voice trailed off as his eyes ran over the younger man, taking in everything.

There were certain traits that nearly every ninja of genin or higher rank almost automatically incorporated into everything they said, making it nearly impossible to tell whether they were lying or not simply by sight and sound. Stares that were purposely slightly off-center, projecting a false sense of honesty. Slight alterations in posture and tone. Minute, almost undetectable movements made at key moments designed to distract the subconscious.

Namikaze Minato was not showing any of these traits.

"You're telling the truth."

As Minato nodded wordlessly, it struck Orochimaru that there _was_ no underlying scheme, no trap set to spring as he set foot on it. All of his quick thinking had revealed no insidious plot simply because there _was_ no insidious plot. Namikaze Minoto truly meant to keep him in the village solely to ensure the Leaf's continued existence. There were no strings attached, only the condition that he stay and let things be as they had been.

The only thing blocking Orochimaru from his life of exile was... himself. His pride, that is. His pride, standing between him and a near limitless archive of techniques - taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu - along with the resources to continue his studies unhindered and...

_home_

Minato watched as the older man's eyes lost focus, as if he was deep in thought. It struck him that this was perhaps the first - and last - time Orochimaru had ever been so transparent; emotions flickered across his face like firelight, bare to the world. At length, his slit eyes closed for a long moment before opening again, and Minato knew in an instant that the decision - whether it was for better or worse - had been made.

Orochimaru shot his former student a glare that could have melted steel before reaching into his vest pocket. He slowly withdrew a battered metal object that bore a spiral emblem on the front: a Leaf hitai-ate. He stared at it for a moment, his expression unreadable, before raising it and tying it around his head in one swift, practiced motion.

"You realize Jiraiya will flay you alive when he finds out you went and did this without his knowledge," he said simply.

Instead of replying, Minato merely grinned impishly before forming a simple seal and vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Once certain he was completely alone, Orochimaru groaned and slumped against the wall, closing his eyes and letting the cool metal of his hitai-ate against his forehead provide an anchor to the real world. The snake sennin was by nature a cautious man, not given to blind optimism. Now that the binding decision had been made, he decided to go about making the most of it.

He took the scroll out of his hip holster and laid it on the ground again, unsealing its contents with a brief moment of concentration. Straightening up, he looked out the window to see the sun rising slowly, its light illuminating his room in all its admittedly under-whelming glory.

Slowly, he allowed himself a small smile.


	2. Adjusting to Life as Usual

Disclaimer: All characters and other thingies within belong to their respective creators.

Notes: For those of you who want to see how Naruto - or Sasuke, Sakura, Neji... or hell, even _Itachi_ - will turn out, I'm afraid you're in for a long wait. Not only am I a slow writer, but I actually plan to fill most of the time in between 'now' and the Kyuubi's invasion. It's possible that I'd make a twelve-year time skip starting from there to bring the story in line with the canon timeline, but for the time being I'm afraid you'll have to deal with late-thirties Orochimaru and his pals. Happy reading. :P

Butterfly Wings

Chapter 1

**Adjusting to Life as Usual**

* * *

Orochimaru was in a foul mood.

It could be the fact that he'd barely gotten any sleep the day before; even by ninja standards, a nap that lasted all of ten minutes before being rudely awakened hardly constituted a good night's sleep.

Perhaps it was because of the smug look Minato had given him as he darted past the blond, amusement dancing in his electric blue eyes.

Or, more likely, it was both of the above, along with the hail of razor sharp shuriken that was closing in on him from all directions.

A brief curse escaped his lips as he channeled chakra into his legs and jumped, the earth beneath him cratering slightly at the force. The air was a bad place to be for a ninja, combining vulnerability on all sides with a near complete lack of mobility. A pair of kunai speeding towards him, centered squarely on his heart and his stomach, seemed to prove the point.

He deflected one with the metal plate on his left arm, snatching the one aimed at his heart out of the air. With a quick snap of his wrist he sent it back where it had come from, landing and quickly following it to his opponent. Drawing a kunai of his own from his hip holster, the snake sennin feinted quickly to the right. As his enemy moved to avoid it, he spun sideways and clipped the man neatly on the chin with a hard kick, sending him to the ground.

"And that," Orochimaru said, "is why you'll never beat me, Jiraiya." The taunt would have been more impressive if he hadn't been panting with exertion; they'd been sparring for nearly two hours without taking a break and the lack of sleep was taking its toll on him.

The white haired man lying prone on the ground shook his head groggily, wincing as he touched his aching chin. He too was breathing hard, and sweat ran heavily down his face. "You stuck-up bastard," he said, a sudden grin appearing on his face. Before Orochimaru could move, he felt the cold, wickedly sharp edge of a kunai held to his throat.

"Honestly, Orochimaru. The way you carry on sometimes makes you sound like a cheesy villain," two voices said in unison. One came from behind Orochimaru, the other from the Jiraiya lying in front of him. There was a small pop as the man he'd just 'beaten' disappeared in a puff of smoke and wisps of chakra. "You'd think that a 'legendary' ninja like yourself wouldn't be fooled by a simple kage bunshin."

Orochimaru chuckled softly, letting the muscles in his body relax. Gathering his chakra, he spat, "The same goes for you, idiot."

There was a minute, infinitesimally small moment where Jiraiya's attention shifted from Orochimaru to the empty space behind him, trying to sense a bunshin where nothing existed. In an instant he realized he'd been fooled, but by then the snake sennin had already flowed out of his grip like water and was driving a fist into his solar plexus, sending Jiraiya to his knees.

The white haired man gave only a grunt before turning his kneel into a crouch, lashing out with his foot and sweeping Orochimaru's legs out from under him. Before the snake sennin could start rolling to his feet, Jiraiya flipped forward, chakra flaring on his right heel as he drove it square into the other man's stomach and knocked him flat on his back, gasping for breath.

They stayed like that for a while on the ground, both of them panting desperately. Orochimaru got his breathing under control first and managed to sit up, propping himself up with both arms. "May I ask what that last kick was for?" He took another deep breath and let it out slowly, wincing as the muscles in his abdomen protested loudly. "I thought we agreed on low level ninjutsu and taijutsu when sparring. I'm fairly certain that B-rank taijutsu involving chakra enhancement don't fall in that category."

"That," Jiraiya said slowly, forcing himself to get up, "was for nearly going and getting yourself killed." He shot his friend a glare.

Orochimaru heaved a heavy sigh, rolling his eyes skywards as if to ask the gods, 'Why me?' Just like Jiraiya to exaggerate wildly. "I was going to desert, Jiraiya, not commit suicide. There's a difference."

"Like hell it is," Jiraiya said angrily. "You know if you'd become missing-nin, I'd have had to hunt you down and kick your sorry ass so hard you died _twice_!" He followed the last word with a halfhearted punch that the other man caught easily.

Orochimaru's return to the ranks of Konoha's ninja had been quiet and devoid of fanfare, mostly because only three people in the village knew that he'd left in the first place. Minato, of course, had grinned like a fool when he saw Orochimaru flash past him, dodging a hail of shuriken. He hadn't seen Sarutobi yet, which was fine as far as the snake sennin was concerned. And Jiraiya...

With a low growl, Orochimaru pushed the other man, sending him back down again. Then, unable to muster the energy required to keep his upper body upright, he fell back and let the ground catch him. "Waking me up at dawn with a bale of explosive tags wasn't enough?"

"Fuck no," Jiraiya replied, laughing. "This spar is only the beginning."

Orochimaru groaned, covering his face with the palm of his hand. "Just kill me already and get it over with." Jiraiya seemed to be mostly unfazed by the fact that his closest friend and rival had nearly gone rogue, apparently happy enough in the fact that Orochimaru had, in the end, not become a missing-nin. The snake sennin wasn't sure what to think about that.

"What'd be the fun in that?" After a few minutes, Jiraiya flipped to his feet and offered the other man a hand. After a moment, Orochimaru took it and hauled himself upright, gingerly feeling his sore muscles. "Come on. I've got two bottles of chilled sake waiting for us at the Roaring Fire."

Orochimaru blinked as he recognized the name: it was a pub that Jiraiya frequented. "It's not even noon yet, Jiraiya."

"I know," Jiraiya said, grinning.

"You know what happened last time you decided it was a good idea to get drunk in the morning." The image of a hopelessly inebriated Jiraiya prancing naked through Konoha's streets in broad daylight flashed through the minds of both ninja.

"I know," Jiraiya repeated. "And this time, you're getting drunk with me."

The toad sennin's grin didn't falter in the slightest as he grabbed his friend by the arm and started dragging him towards the village proper, ignoring the long string of increasingly creative cursing that followed in their wake.

* * *

While Jiraiya was busy putting Operation: Drunken Snake into action, Namikaze Minato was tending to other, more serious matters. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and Minato was getting his ass verbally handed to him in a paper bag.

"...and that's why he's still in the village and not a missing-nin, Hokage-sama."

"Minato-kun."

"Hokage-sama." Minato kept his tone clipped, eyes facing forward: the image of an obedient ninja.

Sarutobi sighed heavily, unable to muster the ire to shout. Slowly, he sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands, letting the warmth seep into his eyelids. He seemed to _sag_ somehow, aging visibly before Minato's eyes. Well over fifty, Sarutobi was certainly old - especially by ninja standards. But the man sitting in the Hokage's chair was suddenly _ancient_ beyond his years, like some incredibly old relic from a forgotten age.

"Let's dispense with the pleasantries, Minato-kun. What am I going to do with you?"

Cocking his head to one side, Minato frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean, Sarutobi-san."

"What I mean," Sarutobi said, "is that you cannot act so impetuously if you are to become Hokage after I step down. What were you thinking?"

"With all due respect, Sarutobi-san-"

"How could you promise him access to my library?" the older man continued, completely ignoring the young man standing in front of him. "Do you have any idea what someone like Orochimaru could _do_ with some of the techniques archived there?"

Minato cleared his throat. "Well-"

"Have you seen what he did to those people, Namikaze?" Sarutobi said, shaking his head in disgust. "They- some of them were barely human anymore. I had to put some of them out of their misery because there was no way they'd ever function as normal people ever again."

"_Sarutobi-san_," Minato said forcefully, some of his own annoyance seeping into his voice. "If you would let me get a word in edgewise instead of dwelling on the horrors you saw - horrors which would have been perfectly acceptable had they been performed on Iwa ninja, I might add - then perhaps I would be able to explain my reasons for acting the way I did."

Sarutobi considered berating his young successor for his lack of respect, but decided against it and motioned for him to speak. It was Sarutobi himself, after all, who had told him to speak frankly.

"Simply put, Konoha stands a better chance of staying on the map with Orochimaru in it than without him."

The older man raised one skeptical eyebrow. "Do tell."

The blond spread his hands apart, starting to explain. "One of the major reasons why Iwa hasn't invaded full force yet is because two of our three 'legendary ninja' still reside here. You know better than anyone how damaging their last major assault was." Sarutobi had to nod reluctantly at that; the attack that had taken place just days after Tsunade left had ended with a full score of Konoha ninja dead and many more injured before the invading Iwa were forced back. "If Orochimaru were to leave, it's certain that Iwa would swarm over us in a heartbeat."

"Perhaps," Sarutobi said, still not convinced. "But Jiraiya would still be here-"

"That's where you're wrong, Sarutobi-san," Minato interrupted. "You know how close the two are. Jiraiya-sensei would have left as soon as he'd made sure his friend wasn't coming back on his own. Whether he succeeded or not, he'd never be back to defend the village in the event of an immediate Iwa assault."

Sarutobi stared moodily at nothing before nodding reluctantly. "True. And as you proposed, Orochimaru could be supplied prisoners to continue his... _experiments_. But that doesn't explain what to tell the families of the people he's already murdered."

Minato simply shrugged. "We're at war, Sarutobi-san. An Iwa surgical strike killed half a dozen Leaf ninja, along with a large number of civilians. We made them pay double that in blood, of course."

For a moment Sarutobi stared at his young successor, who gazed back calmly in return.

"Sometimes losses must be accepted in order to grasp greater results," the blond quoted. "It was one of the first things you taught me.

"Trust me, Sarutobi-san. I wouldn't have chosen this course of action if I wasn't sure this was the best path to take. We need to think on a larger scale. You know what would happen if Iwa was to strike while our morale was at its lowest."

There was a short silence as Sarutobi went over everything in his head. At length he merely grunted, unable to find any obvious holes in Minato's argument. "We'll discuss this again later."

Taking it as his dismissal, Minato bowed and was about to leave when Sarutobi motioned for him to stop.

"I wasn't finished," the elder ninja said. "There's still the matter that you acted outside your bounds as a simple jonin, offering privileges that only the Hokage has the right to bestow."

Mentally, Minato cursed and braced himself for a dressing-down. "Sarutobi-san, I can-"

"Explain, Minato-kun?" Sarutobi finished. His voice sounded as if he couldn't decide whether to be angry or exasperated. "What is there to explain? You completely overstepped your authority, and there is nothing that can be said or done to deny it."

Minato let his gaze fall to the floor.

"You are young, and quick-thinking, and at the same time wise beyond your years - part of the reason I picked you to be the protector of this village when I step down. But the fact remains that you acted impetuously, on an instinctive gut impulse, though I question whether you admit it even to yourself. There's a reason laws exist, Minato-kun, and it's not because they should be broken - even by Hokages-to-be.

"That you acted with the best interests of Konoha in mind was commendable. The means you used to achieve that end were not."

The Hokage sighed again, taking off his wide-brimmed hat and laying it on his desk. He seemed to be searching for words. In the end he settled on lighting his pipe and leaning back, letting the comforting smoke fill his lungs. He stayed like that for a while, letting Minato sweat in silence.

"Normally, this would be a matter to bring before the council..."

Minato barely suppressed a groan; he and the council had never quite seen eye to eye.

"But, seeing as the entire matter is known to exactly four ninja in this village, I think we can lay this to rest." Minato started to grin, but Sarutobi cast the young blond a glare that made his smile wilt like a dying flower.

"Be very, very glad you were right, young one. Your actions could have sealed this village's fate just as easily as if Orochimaru _had_ left." The Sandaime Hokage got up and put a hand on the younger man's shoulder, a humorless smile on his face. "Next time - though I would prefer that there never _is_ a next time - consult me first before acting." He turned away, letting his gaze settle on the view outside.

"Dismissed."

Minato nodded quickly, and an instant later, Sarutobi found himself alone.

* * *

Orochimaru breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the door behind him. Trained ninja or not, carrying an unconscious, fully grown man halfway through the village and dumping him in his home was not exactly his idea of a light walk in the park. It certainly didn't help that his clothing was charred thanks to the aforementioned unconscious man. Halfway through his fourth bottle of sake, the white haired idiot had decided to show off his 'fucking amazing' katon. Apparently he'd been so drunk he'd forgotten that his breath was heavily laced with alcohol, turning his small puff of flame into a roaring fireball that would have had the Uchiha taking notes. One nearly incinerated pub, a frantic suiton and a slightly charred Orochimaru later, Jiraiya had laughed uproariously and ordered three more bottles.

_I don't know what's the bigger godsend: that the owner shut up after I threatened to feed him to Manda, or that the idiot passed out before he finished stripping_, Orochimaru thought. As he finished the thought he staggered slightly, one hand coming up to rest against the wall for support. The snake sennin scowled - alcohol dimmed the senses, slowing reflexes and reactions to a potentially fatal degree. It was why most ninja didn't drink, though Jiraiya seemed to be the sole exception.

A burst of killing intent and a thin whisper on the wind were all the warning he got before a kunai slid through the air past him, shearing off a few strands of his hair and embedding itself in the wall directly behind where his throat had been moments before. Orochimaru darted to the left as a line of deadly projectiles perforated the ground next to him. A brief line of pain flared across his cheek as one nicked him. If he hadn't jerked his head to the side at the last moment, his attacker would have sent him to an early grave.

He didn't mind. After all, it was what he had trained her to do.

A shadow detached itself from a nearby building, flipping through the air and landing in front of him. The afternoon sunlight revealed a young girl in her early teens, twirling a set of kunai through her fingers in an intricate pattern. Judging from the fierce frown on her face, she wasn't pleased.

_Strange, I'm sure she doesn't know I was going to leave_, Orochimaru thought, trying to figure out the reason his student was so angry. Not that she wasn't normally angry, but today she seemed especially pissed for some reason.

"Where the _fuck've_ you been, sensei?" Mitarashi Anko demanded, her scowl deepening. "Do you have any idea how much this fucking _hurt_?" She accented the last part by jerking a thumb towards her neck, where Orochimaru could see a seal that vaguely resembled a flower with three petals. The Ten no Juin.

_Oh. That._ Orochimaru barely suppressed a long, heavy sigh. _A pity it had to be the foul-mouthed, rebellious one who survived._

Anko raised an eyebrow as the snake sennin didn't reply. Then the wind shifted to blow in her face and she recoiled as the heavy scent of smoke and alcohol assailed her senses. "The hell? I thought you didn't drink?"

"I see the pain did wonders for your delicate, flowerlike personality," Orochimaru muttered sourly, ignoring his pupil's outburst. He shut his eyes tightly as an abrupt wave of vertigo threatened to overtake him - the adrenaline had only served to quicken the spread of alcohol through his body.

"Bite me," Anko replied eloquently, sticking her tongue out at her mentor. "You ever going to teach me how to use this goddamn thing, or am I supposed to figure it out myself?"

Despite the dizziness brought on by drinking for hours straight with the self-proclaimed 'Booze Sennin of Konoha', Orochimaru's mind was already weighing the situation. He'd known that Anko had survived the application of the seal - the only one out of ten potentials to do so - but he hadn't had the chance to test the abilities it granted before Sarutobi had gone and stumbled on his other experiments. He sorely wanted to take his student to the nearest training ground and let her release the seal completely, but in his current state he wasn't sure he'd be able to mold his chakra properly in the event something went wrong.

In the end he decided it just wasn't worth it and shook his head. "Day after tomorrow, Training Field 8, six in the morning," he said shortly, and forced the chakra needed into his legs to propel him home. Entering, he let himself flop down bonelessly on the bare floor and closed his eyes, hoping to catch up on his lost sleep.

He'd barely relaxed his muscles when a huge, blunt impact shook his door and an angry voice sounded from outside. "Don't brush me off like that, damn it!"

Damn. He'd forgotten that Anko knew where he lived.

* * *

Two days later found Orochimaru and Anko standing in a grassy field, the latter tapping her foot on the ground impatiently.

"I haven't felt any different at all since this thing died down," Anko said in lieu of greeting, disappointment plain in her voice. "Hurt like a bitch and all I got was a new tattoo."

"You have to trigger the seal," Orochimaru replied, leaning against one of the practice dummies. "The type I gave to you only triggers when you try and draw more chakra than your body can safely supply on its own." And when Orochimaru wanted it to, but Anko didn't need to know that particular fact.

Anko blinked. "That's it?"

Nodding, Orochimaru said, "That's it. How many seals can you cycle?"

"Uhh..." Not sure what the sudden question really had to do anything, Anko shrugged. "Three and a half is my best yet, but I could probably manage a bit more if I tried."

Seal cycling was an advanced chakra exercise that was designed to slowly but steadily increase the amount of chakra a ninja could mold at once. The trainee began forming hand seals in a fixed order, starting with rat and ending with boar. As each seal was formed, chakra was drawn out of the inner coils and molded into potent energy, ready for usage. Since there was no release of the pent-up energy within the body, it stayed there, circulating inside until the amount of chakra became such as that trainee felt unable to continue, at which point the chakra was slowly bled back into his or her coils.

"Begin."

Anko shrugged - nothing to lose - and started, performing three cycles without any noticeable sign of stress. At the fortieth seal a fine sweat started to break out on her forehead, and by the forty-eighth - the end of the fourth cycle - she was shaking visibly from the strain.

"This is my limit, sensei," she managed to say, her fingers locked in the boar seal. Her eyes were shut tightly. "If I go any farther I think I'll burst."

"Continue." Orochimaru's eyes were locked on the Juin, which was starting to writhe as if it was alive. "The seal will protect you."

Anko gulped hard, suddenly regretting her decision to receive the goddamn seal in the first place - her neck felt like someone was holding a live coal to it. Still, Orochimaru's training had never done anything but make her stronger, and she had no reason to think that he'd lie to her. Her hands trembling, she formed the seal for rat, and all hell broke loose.

The Cursed Seal of Heaven sprang to life, racing from its resting place on Anko's neck and spreading across her body like wildfire. An aura of pure chakra blazed into existence around her, turning even the early morning sky a shade brighter. Her pupils disappeared, leaving her eyes pure white orbs of light, as if she'd been lit up from the inside.

Heat was rolling off of her in waves, and Orochimaru didn't dare approach her. Instead, he stood a decent distance away, prepared a kawarimi in case something went wrong, and observed the pattern of the seal with a detached interest, noting that the way that Anko's chakra was flaring made it a distinct possibility that the energy was leaking from her tenketsu. Her body simply couldn't hold all the energy that her coils were supplying her and was discharging it into the air.

A part of him worried that she might die, but he brushed it aside. If Anko succeeded - whether she survived or not - he'd finally have concrete proof that the Juin worked as he'd designed it. If she didn't... well, Minato _had_ promised to supply a steady stream of volunteers.

Only a few seconds had passed since Anko had started to manifest a visible aura, but Orochimaru could tell that she was already at her limit; simply too much of her chakra was bleeding into her surroundings. He scowled - perhaps she simply didn't have the raw amount of chakra needed to trigger the seal's second stage.

Before he could do anything to find out, Anko let out a chakra-enhanced scream that nearly burst his eardrums, the energy surrounding her body shrieking upwards to the heavens in a iridescent blue bolt. Her chakra split the clouds for a brief moment before dissipating completely. Completely and utterly drained, Anko pitched forward onto her face, unconscious before she hit the ground.

Orochimaru raised his eyebrows. _Interesting_. Not quite what he'd wanted, but... _interesting_. He knelt and checked his student's pulse, noting that it still beat strongly despite the severe chakra depletion she must have undergone moments before. Despite the fact she'd been too hot to even stand close to, her skin was cool to the touch, and from what Orochimaru could tell she was showing none of the normal signs of chakra burnout. Good - it seemed that she was not only still alive, but the activation of the seal's first stage hadn't had any lasting adverse effects. She'd be able to try again.

With a small grunt he hefted her limp body onto his shoulder, his expression thoughtful. Perhaps Anko needed more training before she could properly harness the seal; he made a mental note to up her quota once she recovered. With his pupil in tow he started walking to the hospital, ignoring the strange looks he received from passing villagers.

Pushing open the door, he moved to the counter and unceremoniously dumped Anko there. The girl at the counter stared up at him, eyes wide with shock. It wasn't every day that one got to meet one of Konoha's legendary sannin, especially one who'd walked into the building holding an unconscious girl like a sack of potatoes.

"She's suffering from acute chakra depletion," Orochimaru said, motioning towards Anko. "There shouldn't be anything else out of the ordinary, but just in case I want reports on the state of her inner coils, possible muscle atrophy, internal damage..." He trailed off, gesturing vaguely. "You get the idea. Get a Hyuuga to take a look at her."

Before the poor girl could think to reply, Orochimaru vanished in a small cloud of smoke. It was convenient, and it kept people from asking annoying questions as he walked out.

He was slowly making his way back to his home, his mind spinning with the implications of Anko's reaction to the seal, when someone called him.

"Orochimaru-sensei!"

There were only two living people who called Orochimaru that, and he'd just left one of them at the hospital, unconscious. That meant...

He turned around and sure enough, Namikaze Minato was waving at him cheerfully, dragging a bemused-looking Jiraiya behind him. Inwardly, Orochimaru groaned - he'd wanted time alone to ponder the effects that the Ten no Juin had had on Anko. It looked as though the gods hadn't seen fit to give him that time.

He waited until they were reasonably close before clearing his throat. "Yes?"

"Just go along with him - it'll save us the time he spends whining," Jiraiya said, scratching his head. "Kid says he's got a new jutsu he wants to show off."

_Well._ That changed things. Perhaps the Anko's seal could wait a while...

Half an hour of walking later, both ninja were becoming increasingly impatient with their former student.

"So tell me, kid. Just what is it about this fantastic jutsu that's so amazing it has to be done half a mile from the village walls?" Jiraiya asked. They'd followed the young blond deep into the Forest of Death, ignoring the gigantic wildlife. The amount of _satsui_ - killing intent - that Orochimaru was actively emitting helped take care of that.

"It's a ninjutsu I've been working on in my spare time for the past three years. I finally got it worked out last week, but I'd forgotten all about it until today." Minato's ice blue eyes were practically glowing with excitement. At length, they found themselves in a wide clearing, devoid of plantlife and littered with small and large boulders. The blond ninja motioned for them to stop next to the largest one in the clearing, nearly the size of a small fishing boat.

"I take it this jutsu is apparently so deadly and destructive that using it somewhere close by and convenient like, say, Training Field 10 - a place specifically designed for testing ninjutsu - would no doubt result in the utter and complete annihilation of Konoha." Orochimaru said archly.

"No," Minato admitted with a smile, "but there's always the possibility of Iwa spies in the village and I didn't want to risk it."

Both older men nodded reluctantly at that. It _was_ a distinct possibility; warring villages had been known to plant spies for the sole purpose of stealing jutsu in the past.

"So now we're out here in the middle of nowhere," said Jiraiya, looking about as impatient as Orochimaru felt. "And if any ninja could follow the three of us this far without being noticed, it's probably the goddamn _Tsuchikage_ himself with his elite handpicked squad of invincible death ninja, and we're all fucked anyway. So come on. Out with it."

Minato's face split in a quick grin at his mentor's words before he extended his right hand, his brow furrowing with concentration.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "No hand seals?"

The blond didn't reply. A few moments passed without anything out of the ordinary and Jiraiya had just opened his mouth to ask a question when it happened.

Chakra coalesced in Minato's palm, spinning rapidly around and into itself until it formed a small orb that grew until it reached the size of a grapefruit. A high pitched whine, like a forceful gale, started to emanate from the orb as it began to shine brightly. Slowly, Minato turned and touched the orb to the boulder lightly, seeming to push it _in_ the stone.

They watched as the orb drilled effortlessly through the stone. Instead of weakening as it contacted the boulder, the revolving sphere actually began to spin faster, growing larger as it chewed clear through and out the other end, dispersing in an explosive whirl once it met no resistance.

Silence fell for a moment before Jiraiya let out a low whistle and started clapping, while Orochimaru smiled approvingly.

Jiraiya was the first to speak. "From the looks of it, I'd say you were making a matrix of controlled chakra, spinning it around a focal point in the center - the part that glowed so bright. But how'd you get it to become so destructive? By all rights all that should have done was maybe make a slight impression on that boulder, not bore straight through it."

Orochimaru stepped around to look at the back of the huge rock, noting that the hole was much larger than the orb Minato had first formed. He stood there for a moment, staring wordlessly at the gutted boulder. "Reverse chakra," he said at length, rubbing his fingers against his chin thoughtfully. "You forced the chakra on your palm to revolve in a direction opposite that of your body's natural flows. The controlled disorder was the reason the chakra became so powerful, eventually becoming became self-sustaining, capable of keeping its shape and actually increasing in power after it left your hand. I imagine it'd be fatal if used against a person, even one using body armor or the Iron Body technique - like turning on a high-speed fan in their intestines."

Minato nodded slowly, looking slightly put out. "I wasn't expecting you to pick up on the last concept so quickly," he said, heaving a sigh.

Orochimaru chuckled. "So I assume this is a close-range combat ninjutsu?" Orochimaru said, receiving another nod. He noticed that the younger ninja wasn't even breathing heavily. "How much chakra does it expend?"

"Almost none," Minato replied, grinning full force again. "All that's needed is the initial flow to get the chakra outside the body and spinning. The rest is pure control."

Jiraiya grinned back; he'd always been a fan of destructive, flashy ninjutsu, and this new one was no exception. "So what's this new technique called?"

Minato's grin became distinctly sheepish and he laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "To tell the truth, I wasn't quite sure what to name it - I've never created a whole new jutsu before." Orochimaru rolled his eyes at the blond's Jiraiya-esque statement. Noticing the snake sennin's expression, Minato hastily cleared his throat and attempted to convey an air of confidence.

"But I'm thinking of calling it _Rasengan_."


	3. Forging Loyalty

Disclaimer: All characters and other thingies within belong to their respective creators.

Notes: Orochimaru is not 'good', and not 'evil'. He's simply an extremely amoral, extremely intelligent human being who could really give less than a flying fuck about anyone he doesn't care about. He _is_ a considerably flawed individual, and it shows in the differences he exhibits when dealing with those he considers close when compared to, say, Anko. No, he doesn't consider her as very important to him (or precious, as Naruto would say).

Orochimaru in a nutshell: sociopathic, admittedly cruel and completely bereft of morals? Yes. Evil? No.

On a side note, Orochimaru and Jiraiya are _not_ Sasuke and Naruto, 'only older'. While they may have some similar qualities, the sannin are their own people, and I hope you'll keep that in mind as you read. :P

Butterfly Wings

Chapter 2

**Forging Loyalty**

* * *

"Now what?" Orochimaru asked himself, looking up at the late morning sky. His attempts to recreate Minato's new jutsu had turned out to be frustrating; it seemed that the blond ninja hadn't been joking when he said it had taken him three years to master it. Summoning the chakra and reversing its flow had been easy. Maintaining the control needed to both sustain the chakra core and force energy to revolve around it at the same time, however, had proved harder. The sting of seeing Minato's smug grin had been only slightly soothed at the sight of Jiraiya's similarly unsuccessful attempts.

"It'll take at least a few months to master it even knowing the theory behind it," Minato had said, making no attempt to hide his amusement. It wasn't every day he got to see his two 'legendary' teachers fail miserably at something he himself had already mastered. The Hiraishin no Jutsu, his best and potentially deadliest ninjutsu, was one of the few things that eluded both sennin to this day. His 'Rasengan', while not quite on that level, was certainly proving to be quite difficult.

An abrupt growl from his stomach broke Orochimaru out of his reminiscing and reminded him that his breakfast had consisted entirely of a dry, tasteless bar of field rations that he'd eaten on his way to Training Field 8. The wafers - lovingly referred to as 'shitsticks' by the ANBU - provided a quick boost of energy that served to banish sleep and fatigue much like the stronger soldier pills, but suffered from none of the side effects, aside from a lingering sense of hunger.

He was just about to hop down from his rooftop perch when he saw a familiar figure walking down towards Training Field 2. Sarutobi was hard to miss; the ANBU bodyguards who constantly ghosted him made him stand out like a beacon. Of course, any normal ninja - even highly trained jounin - would have been hard pressed to notice just one of the elite ANBU, but Orochimaru was far from normal. A thought formed in his mind and he turned it over for a while, finally heaving a sigh and shaking his head. He could pretend that Sarutobi didn't exist, and the Hokage could do the same, but sooner or later things would come to a head. It was only a matter of time.

_This way, at least,_ he thought, dropping down to the ground, _I'll be going on my terms._

* * *

Sarutobi showed no sign of surprise when Orochimaru fell into step beside him, though he'd been alone just moments before.

"Lovely morning, Hokage-sama," the snake sennin said, his voice deliberately casual. "Not a cloud in the sky."

"Indeed," Sarutobi replied. He too kept his tone level. The ANBU stayed where they were - they hadn't been informed that Orochimaru had nearly gone rogue, and before their falling-out, the Hokage and the snake sennin had often had such abrupt talks.

After a moment, Orochimaru said, "It doesn't look like it'll rain today, does it?"

_We need to talk, sensei,_ his hands said, subtly and at an angle where none of the ANBU could see. Sarutobi shook his head, squinting at the late morning sun while one hand at his side worked out an answer.

"No, I don't suppose it will. The breeze is certainly refreshing, though." _About what?_

Orochimaru suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the old man's deliberate obstinacy, instead smiling amicably. "It's the perfect kind of day for a stroll outside Konoha, wouldn't you say?" _About __**me**__, you insufferable old man._

"Perhaps training can wait," Sarutobi said, making a brief gesture. Orochimaru caught multiple flashes of movement as the Hokage's bodyguards left, leaving the two ninja alone. When they were alone, the Hokage turned to his former student and sighed, resisting the sudden urge to massage his temples. He hadn't been looking forward to this at all. "Well?"

"I'll tell you when we're outside of Konoha's borders, away from prying eyes and ears," Orochimaru said briefly under his breath, quickening their pace.

They continued wordlessly past the borders of the village, crossing through the huge double gates that served to mark Konoha's boundaries. Sarutobi tipped a nod to the pair of ninja guarding the south gate, a small smile creasing his wrinkled face as they snapped to attention, doing their best to project an image of competence and efficiency. Soon they were walking in the sparse forest south of Konoha. They continued for a while, both acutely aware of the near-tangible silence hanging between them, before Sarutobi spoke.

"Orochimaru."

"Yes?" the snake sennin replied, keeping his facade of calm. There was no mistaking the tone of Sarutobi's voice; Orochimaru could nearly see the disapproval lurking within his former mentor. He knew that if Sarutobi had wanted to kill him, he would have done so days ago, but nonetheless he kept himself tensed and alert.

Silence blanketed them again as they strode through the trees. At length, Sarutobi spoke, deliberately directing his gaze elsewhere.

"Do you regret them? The experiments. The lives you took."

"Yes," Orochimaru replied truthfully. He too refrained from meeting Sarutobi's eyes, choosing instead to gaze at the ground. "I do regret it. If I'd attained permission to test my theories on captured enemies, then I would never have had to worry about getting caught, as it were. The need for secrecy kept me from-"

"Not that," Sarutobi interrupted, a hint of anger seeping into his voice at his one-time student's callous reply. "I mean the families you destroyed, Orochimaru. The bonds you tore asunder."

_Oh. Them._ Orochimaru would have sighed at Sarutobi's dramatic flair, but since doing so would probably have sent the already incensed man over the edge he wisely refrained. He stopped to consider the question before replying honestly; he owed his former teacher that much at least. "No. I could care less. They meant nothing to me, and they would never have done anything meaningful in their lives anyway.

"Before you get started on how they were living, breathing human beings, I wish to point out that our enemies are also human beings, with their own dreams and hopes and families. While what I admit that what I did was against the law, as a ninja I feel no regret over taking the lives of others." Orochimaru smiled thinly. "If you wish to talk about laws, I'm open. Morals, on the other hand, are not my field of expertise."

Sarutobi just sighed, closing his eyes. The conversation was heading into territory that the two ninja had covered many times before; he already knew how it would end. Namely, with both men unable to come to an agreement. "I won't comment on that-"

"Because you already know what will be said," Orochimaru finished, his smile fading a little. "We could argue for days over this, Sarutobi-sensei. I know it because we've done it before." The Hokage noted the -sensei honorific and nodded slowly. "For better or worse, though, it appears that we'll simply have to tolerate each other, since Minato-kun seems hell bent on keeping me here."

Sarutobi would have replied, if the ground beneath him hadn't suddenly exploded, impaling him in a circle of jagged stone. His eyes widened in shock and blood started to seep from his mouth... before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke that disappated to reveal a log wearing the Hokage's robes of office, skewered with shards of rock.

Orochimaru was off the moment 'Sarutobi' died, darting into the trees to his left just as another burst of razor-sharp stone erupted where he'd been standing. He let chakra flood his system in a brief deluge of energy, providing him with a short burst of power that would keep his body working at its full potential until his body's natural supply of adrenaline took over. It was a technique many of the higher ranked ninja preferred to use in lieu of a warm-up even when training, effectively letting the trainee simulate an ambush - a very real possibility when on a mission involving hostile ninja. Orochimaru allowed himself a grim smile - this was no simulation.

The snake sennin seemed to materialize like smoke behind one of the enemy ninja, quickly slitting his throat with a kunai and melding into the shadows again before the body had even hit the ground. He spared a quick glance at the dead ninja's hitai-ate, noting the symbol of two boulders, one larger than the other.

Iwa.

A patch of undergrowth next to him changed, revealing itself as Sarutobi under a simple, but effective henge. In a fight against an unknown number of assailants, the basics were often more important than flashy, high-level jutsu, simply because said flashy jutsu took far too much chakra to use and then have enough left in case of an emergency. Especially when the basics got the job done with a minimum expenditure of effort. The Hokage was in a black bodysuit with faded silver armor plating, having shed his bright robes when he performed his kawarimi.

"We'll continue this discussion later," Sarutobi growled, his voice low enough to be inaudible by anyone more than a foot away. "Two in the trees. Three in the ground." Just _what_ six Iwa ninja were doing so close to Konoha was a question that would have to be answered later, after the threat had been neutralized.

Both ninja seemed to fade into the sparse undergrowth, doing nothing to reveal their positions. They were skilled, that was true. What they weren't was invincible, and all the skill, all the knowledge and experience in the world wouldn't save them if a single kunai or jutsu found its mark. Full frontal assault had its uses; it was glorious, demoralizing to the enemy and made a hell of a better story to tell one's grandkids than "I snuck up in the dead of night and slit their throats while they were sleeping." But it had a way of getting one killed from time to time.

One Iwa already lay dead in the undergrowth, which left the odds at slightly less than three to one. Now that he knew the exact number of attackers, Orochimaru could use jutsu as needed. Leaving Sarutobi to fight in the trees, Orochimaru took a huge breath, formed a single seal and sunk seamlessly into the ground, letting the solid earth flow around him like water.

Ninja of the Stone tended to favor moving through dirt and rock, believing correctly that most other shinobi would be more subsceptible to attacks from beneath their feet. Over time it had become a distinctly "Iwa" tactic, along with the more advanced Doton ninjutsu which allowed brief physical combat and even usage of other jutsu while underground. In fact, the idea of "Iwagakure earthwalking" had become so entrenched in the Elemental Countries that even the Stone ninja themselves had become used to the idea that the field of subterranean battle was theirs alone.

Orochimaru grinned; it was so easy to kill people who so deeply believed in their own superiority.

A quick series of four seals twisted his chakra in his body, pushing it out and keeping the earth around him from smothering him without the need for concentration. Free to channel his energy elsewhere, the snake sennin delved deep into his mind and withdrew a jutsu that had long since fallen into antiquity.

Used normally, _Tenchi Koutai no Jutsu_ was impractical and draining at best. All the genjutsu did was swap the target's sense of up and down. However, maintaining such an illusion when the mere sight of the open sky could bring the target back to reality required enormous amounts of chakra that, at best, would only serve to slightly disorient a ninja. Even without breaking the illusion, a skilled shinobi could ignore his or her body's signals and continue to fight - albeit at suboptimal capacity - while the user was busy channeling chakra to maintain the jutsu. These fallacies, coupled with the gradual dominance of Iwa in subterranean fighting - one of the few situations where the jutsu could conceivably be used without consuming monstrous amounts of chakra - had served to drive it into obscurity.

Contrary to what his peers thought, Orochimaru _did_ possess a sense of humor. It lent itself mostly to cases of black irony, like Iwa ninja losing their way and perishing underground. He expended a fair amount of chakra to blanket the area around him with the genjutsu, instead of focusing it upon a single target. Once the illusion was firmly in place, he stopped actively maintaining the flow of chakra and followed it with another subtle genjutsu that would keep the ninja from noticing that they should have broken the surface by then. The double-layered genjutsu would add to the believability of the fake reality; they'd burrow until they ran out of chakra and suffocated.

He rose out of the ground to see an unharmed Sarutobi kneeling over two unconscious Iwa jounin, using a razor-sharp kunai to methodically sever their tendons without excessive blood loss. It took more time than using chakra scalpels, but it was far more permanent and often served as an effective demoralizer to captured ninja. The Hokage didn't look up as Orochimaru walked over, busy making sure that the Stone shinobi would never walk - or, for that matter, do anything but breathe under their own power - again. "I take it you dispatched of your attackers?" he asked mildly.

Orochimaru smirked. "You could say they got a little... lost."

"Genjutsu," the Hokage said after a moment, nodding slightly. "Are you sure they've been taken care of?"

"It'd take an Uchiha's sharingan to break a double-layered genjutsu that quickly while earthwalking," Orochimaru replied, shaking his head. "They haven't popped up yet, so unless they possess inhuman lung capacity they're well on their way to suffocation." Earthwalking - it couldn't be called tunneling, as the jutsu left behind no tunnel to speak of - did little to provide the user with air, which was why most users preferred to stay close to the surface where they could rise immediately in the case of an emergency.

"I see you've spared yours," Orochimaru observed, his voice indicating disapproval. He himself preferred to finish his opponents off when he could; it made for less potential enemies in the long run.

Sarutobi gave a small tsk. "I would have thought you'd know better, Orochimaru," he said, shaking his head. "This hunter-killer squad was sent to assassinate me specifically, seeing as how they attacked despite seeing my robes of office. The fact that they remained undetected despite infiltrating so close to Konoha is also cause for worry. Something is amiss, and one cannot interrogate dead ninja."

"They failed spectacularly in killing you, Sarutobi-sensei," Orochimaru noted, though they both knew that it was probably the snake sennin's presence that had made it into such an easy victory. Still, something _was_ amiss; normally the presence of an S-ranked ninja like himself would have been cause enough to call off or delay such a potentially dangerous and important strike.

Sarutobi finished his work and stood up, seeming to relax slightly as the chakra that had been flooding his body, forcing it to work at levels that belied his age, was reabsorbed into his inner coils. He nodded at the two crippled ninja, who were still unconscious and showed no sign of waking up in the near future.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "Surely you don't expect me to carry both of them back to the village."

The Hokage only grinned, his voice gaining a slight edge as he replied. "Surely you wouldn't burden an old man like me with carrying such exceedingly burly, heavy ninja."

"The old man who could throw both of these exceedingly burly, heavy ninja all the way back to Konoha if he wanted to," Orochimaru replied, though his voice held no real venom. He stooped and grabbed the Iwa ninja by the back of their vests, dragging them along on the path back to Konohagakure as Sarutobi followed behind.

"I take it this means you're paying for lunch," he said over his shoulder, stifling a laugh at Sarutobi's appalled expression.

* * *

Needless to say, the illustrious members of Konoha's ANBU Torture and Interrogation Squad were most surprised when Orochimaru entered the office, dragging behind him two unconscious and heavily beaten Iwa ninja, followed by the Hokage himself. The jounin was completely unharmed, as was Sarutobi, though his robes of office looked like they'd been used for target practice by a disgruntled weapons master. Before anybody could do more than snap to attention and try to look busy, Orochimaru dumped both enemy ninja onto a nearby desk, turned neatly around, and moseyed out, amicably talking to the Sandaime about a pleasant lunch at the Silent Leaf.

Stunned silence reigned as they looked at each other, unsure of what to think. At length, one of the younger ANBU let out a huge sigh, scratching idly at his short, spiky ponytail. "It's Tuesday, isn't it?" he asked, not even bothering to look at the calendar. Without waiting for a reply he slowly forced himself to his feet, grabbed the Iwa ninja by their vests and began dragging them away.

Hauling his charges into a room and closing the door behind him, he propped them up on a pair of chairs, taking care not to aggravate any injuries any more than could be helped. There'd be time enough for that later, during the interrogation. After all, they must possess _some_ vital knowledge if the both Orochimaru and the Hokage himself had seen fit to bring them in. Though it looked as though they'd been thoroughly crippled, he started the arduous process of checking both men for poisoned tooth fillings, suicide pills, and other various ways of killing oneself, just to make sure.

"Troublesome," he muttered, prying the first ninja's mouth open and sticking his fingers in.

* * *

Half an hour later found Orochimaru and Sarutobi walking into the Silent Leaf, perhaps the only food establishment in Konoha that catered exclusively to shinobi. It showed in the interior decorating; instead of tables, the inside was divided completely into a multitude of small rooms padded heavily with sound-dampening material, though the walls were thin enough to be broken easily in the event of an attack. The building was bereft of any windows, instead lit completely with dim artificial lights. Each room was completely bare except for a simple wooden table and a stack of tatami in the corner, making it nearly impossible to plant any kind of listening device or camera.

In short, the restaurant sacrificed comfort for complete privacy. The odds of an assassination attempt within a hidden village were close to none, even in wartime, but spies were far more commonplace. The prices were exorbitant considering the utter absence of any creature comforts, but when Konoha shinobi wanted to discuss matters which their enemies would cheerfully kill to hear, the Silent Leaf provided an absolute confidentiality that was surpassed by only two locations in all of Konoha.

And, unfortunately, neither the Hokage's office nor the ANBU headquarters served decent kabayaki.

Sarutobi sighed as he sat down, setting his hat down on the floor next to him. "Tell me again why I'm paying?"

"Because you forced me to perform the menial task of dragging two unconscious, heavy men all the way to Konoha, and also because you get paid far more than I do," Orochimaru replied, sliding into a sitting position opposite of the Hokage. He paused as a discreet knock sounded outside, and a moment later a woman entered with a small tray holding two cups and a softly steaming kettle. She bowed wordlessly before setting the tray on the table and exiting, closing the door behind her.

Orochimaru poured the tea, passing one cup to Sarutobi and taking one himself. "I believe we were having an argument on the subject of ethics and morality, Hokage-sama?" He took a small sip before continuing. "Though I doubt either of us wishes to continue."

"I don't," Sarutobi said, grimacing. "I'd prefer to talk about topics that will actually get us somewhere. Like the conditions of your stay in my village."

Orochimaru kept his silence, letting the quiet speak for him.

Sarutobi's tone shifted, becoming more businesslike. Even as a jounin teaching his first team, he'd had no patience for dancing around issues, and old age had not tempered that bluntness in the least. "You realize I can't give you access to my library immediately."

"That's not what Minato-kun led me to believe."

"Minato-kun," Sarutobi replied evenly, "was operating completely outside the bounds of his authority. The only reason I haven't had him exiled along with you for his foolishly impetuous gamble is because the gods smiled on him, and his position happened to have some amount of merit."

Orochimaru nodded; he'd expected as much. His words had been a simple probe for more information. "Fair enough. When may I expect that part of the deal to be upheld?"

The Hokage looked reluctant. "You will have to undertake a number of missions first, including at least one S-rank or several A-rank, to prove your loyalty to Konoha." It was obvious from the way he said it that Sarutobi didn't feel it was quite enough. "When you are granted access, your ANBU escorts will be briefed on the... situation. They will, of course, be sworn to secrecy."

More people coming into knowledge of events that Orochimaru would rather have kept a secret. He kept the frown from showing on his face, instead choosing a thin smile.

The food arrived soon enough and they began to eat. The possibility of poisoned food was always there, no matter how slim, but the Silent Leaf prided itself on its security. The staff consisted entirely of retired shinobi, and every ingredient was carefully checked out before being cooked.

Orochimaru paused, setting his chopsticks down for a moment. "About my studies..." He trailed off deliberately, letting Sarutobi speak first.

"Your studies may continue," Sarutobi said slowly, the disapproval clear in his voice. "Naturally, your subjects will be restricted to the prisoners of war who are deemed to hold no value as ransom or as hostages. I'll also be expecting regular reports on your research at least four times a year. Is that acceptable?" The tone of his voice suggested that Sarutobi didn't really care much at all whether Orochimaru found it to be acceptable or not.

Orochimaru squelched the ire that had begun to simmer inside him. "Of course," he managed to say, forcefully reminding himself that Sarutobi's demands were well within the bounds of reason. _At least he didn't want someone watching over me..._

"Speaking of my work," Orochimaru said casually, projecting an air of only slight interest. "You had everything in my old laboratory disposed of, didn't you?"

To a casual observer, the Hokage's nod would have looked natural. Orochimaru, however, had had decades to study the man. The snake sennin easily detected the minute widening of the eyes and slight intake of breath that were the only signs of Sarutobi's surprise. _He knows something._

"Did anything catch your interest, perchance?"

"No," Sarutobi replied, just an instant too quickly - as if he'd been expecting the question. Orochimaru's eyes narrowed for a moment before he inclined his head and slowly guided the conversation back to safer waters.

"Pity. I'd been hoping some records would have been left over, at least," he said, then waited a few seconds before speaking again. "You said earlier that my test subjects would be restricted to enemy prisoners. May I have the Iwa jounin who attacked today?" In reality, Orochimaru could care less about two crippled ninja, but he made a show of seeming interested.

"If they break without dying," Sarutobi said, glad to get off the topic of Orochimaru's old experiments. "Although the chances of that are low, at best. They most likely knew that they were on a suicide mission."

A few minutes of silence passed as both ninja finished their meals, interspersed by small pockets of small talk. Having eaten his fill first, Orochimaru sat back, setting his chopsticks down. He stayed seated until Sarutobi spoke. "Orochimaru..." The Hokage seemed on the verge of saying something before apparently deciding against it as he sighed, standing up. "Never mind."

Orochimaru blinked. He hated that.

* * *

A week later, Orochimaru found himself in a slight quandary. Since the failed assassination attempt, Iwa had kept its silence, resulting in an eerily tense peace that reminded the jounin uncomfortably of the calm before a storm. No missions had really caught his interest, though he supposed he'd have to take them _some_ day. Jiraiya had disappeared as he was wont to do from time to time, no doubt doing something perverted; Orochimaru really didn't expect less. Minato, on the other hand, had taken one of his students - the snake sennin vaguely remembered that the boy was a Hatake, Sakumo's orphaned son - over to the Uchiha compound for some reason, and Sarutobi had apparently decided that one meeting with Orochimaru was enough for the month.

In short, Orochimaru was bored. He had nothing to do, no pressing matters that might have drawn his attention. And so, he found himself in Konoha's hospital, standing over the comatose form of his student, Mitarashi Anko.

Despite what he'd said on delivering her to the hospital, chakra exhaustion on the level that Anko had experienced was no trivial matter. Only the regular chakra stimulation she'd received had kept her muscles from atrophying. Thankfully, nothing had been damaged beyond the ability of Konoha's medical experts to heal. Still, she was unconscious and had been that way for over a week, from what the medics had told him. He supposed that when Anko _did_ wake up, her first words would no doubt be laced with angry profanity.

"Hurt... like fuck, dammit..."

Orochimaru blinked. Sometimes, he supposed bemusedly, it wasn't good to be right all the time.

"So you're awake, then?" he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He held her down firmly as she attempted to get up, shaking his head. "Your muscles may not have atrophied, but you're still in no condition to be walking around. It's been over a week since the accident."

"You've... been checking up on me?" Anko asked, her voice tinged with mild surprise. The girl even sounded touched. Orochimaru supposed the surprise was understandable; this was the first time in his life he'd ever visited anyone in the hospital, student _or_ teammate. His reasoning behind this had been that anybody worth his time who'd been hospitalized would no doubt be out of the hospital again in short order, and anybody _not_ worth his time didn't warrant a visit in the first place.

To be completely honest, the jounin didn't really feel much for Anko; if she'd died as a result of applying the Ten no Juin like her nine peers, he would have shed no tears. Only, perhaps, a detached sense of annoyance that none of the subjects had survived. She was an experiment and a useful tool, nothing more. Talented, granted, but nothing truly outstanding like Minato or Orochimaru himself had been.

He supposed he did feel a sort of respect for the way she blatantly refused to fear him, or worship him like so many did. Curious, he'd asked her about her apparent lack of terror and awe at being in the presence of Konoha's "evil" sannin, and had gotten a reply consisting entirely of a derisive snort and a kunai thrown unerringly at his groin.

"You look like a fucking kabuki actor," the genin had said in her high child's voice, completely unafraid of her new jounin sensei despite the fact he'd easily caught the kunai in midflight. "You'll get my respect or fear when you earn it." As if _she_ was the one teaching him, not the other way around.

He blinked, snapping himself out of his memories. He'd dropped in only because he'd had absolutely nothing better to do, but Anko didn't need to know that. Fixing a smile on his face, Orochimaru nodded.

Though he didn't feel any affection towards his young charge, the fact remained that as the sole living bearer of his experimental seal, Anko had become invaluable, and keeping her on his side would be wise. Though foul-mouthed and bad-tempered, the girl was still young and impressionable, and Orochimaru intended on taking advantage of that as much as possible.

"How are you feeling?" the jounin asked smoothly, projecting an image of detached concern. If he seemed too warm, Anko would be suspicious, but the proper inflection used just so...

Anko grinned wryly up at her teacher. "The fuck does it look like I'm feeling?" Her voice was already stronger than it had been before; Orochimaru mentally estimated that she'd be up and about in another day at most. She tried to move and winced, pain clear in her tone. "It's like I got used as a training dummy by that crazy Maito bastard. What the hell happened to me?"

"The seal overloaded your chakra pathways, but fortunately it seems that there's been no burnout," Orochimaru explained. He watched with some consternation as Anko's face twisted at the mention of the seal. "I may have to revise the seal to mesh it properly with your system before trying again."

Anko was silent for a time before replying. "I didn't like it, sensei," she said, fear entering her voice for the first time since Orochimaru had taken her under his wing. "It felt like I was being torn to bits from the inside out."

Orochimaru mentally frowned; this wasn't good at all. Deciding to take an indirect approach, he said, "That won't come for quite a while. Before we do anything with the seal, I'll have to step up your training regimen to bolster your chakra reserves as well as enhance your control and the state of your body. Since your teammates are-" He stopped for a moment, _dead_ on the tip of his tongue, and swiftly changed the term to one that held less grim connotations. "-gone, I'll be training only you full time once you're out of the hospital."

Thankfully, Anko didn't seem to have noticed his slip, happy at the mention of more attention from the jounin. The snake sennin was harsh, but his training had been nothing but effective, and even when his attention had been divided between her and her teammates she'd been able to feel herself improving noticeably. The prospect of being trained on a one-on-one basis was enough to drive any dismal thoughts from her tired mind.

"Really?" Anko opened her mouth to say something more before her eyes abruptly snapped closed and she fell back on her pillow, unconscious. Shortly, her breathing took on the rhythmic pattern of deep sleep.

Orochimaru wasn't surprised; sudden unconsciousness was a typical symptom of those recovering from chakra depletion, and Anko had just been asking for it by talking so much directly after waking up. It had been an unexpected but beneficial coincidence that Anko had happened to wake up when she had, letting Orochimaru cement her trust in him more deeply than it had been before. It couldn't have gone more perfectly if he'd planned it. He stayed a moment longer, gazing down at his young charge with a smile on his face before vanishing, leaving no trace that he'd ever been in the room.

* * *

He was on his way back home when an ANBU with a monkey mask over her face materialized a few feet away in a swirl of leaves. Orochimaru looked around for a moment, making sure he was alone before making his way over to the kunoichi, who was staring at him expectantly.

"What is it?" he asked, once he was close enough to be heard easily. The ANBU didn't often act as messengers, serving as couriers only for the most urgent of matters, such as attacks on the village or S-rank mission notifications.

Monkey didn't reply, simply drawing a scroll from underneath her arm guard. Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly as he noted the black paper used only when assigning S-rank missions. Wordlessly, she handed it to him before disappearing again, leaving the jounin alone once more.

He resisted the urge to unroll the scroll then and there, instead choosing to wait until he got home. Closing the door, he unsealed the scroll, took one look at its contents, and cursed angrily, destroying the delicate paper with a small katon.

"_This_ is what that imbecile was planning?" he asked aloud, unable for once to hold his ire inside. He cursed once more for good measure and turned back around, leaving almost as soon as he'd come and heading for his temporary laboratory.

He'd be taking no part in this utter foolishness.

* * *

"No."

"Come on, Orochimaru."

"No."

"Will you at least consider-"

"No."

"You're just saying that to piss me off, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Jiraiya stopped, closed his eyes, let out his breath in an explosive sigh and flopped down on the small cot that occupied one corner of Orochimaru's temporary lab. Calling it an actual laboratory would be a stretch; the place was nearly barren, devoid of any comforts beyond basic heating and lights. A multitude of scrolls, books and esoteric diagrams were stacked on the walls.

Orochimaru himself stood hunched over an unfurled scroll, brush in hand, frowning down at it while taking care not to let any ink drip onto the paper. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he considered the modifications he'd made to the seal; theoretically, altering the channeling pathways like he'd done would slow the rush of excess chakra through the body, preventing the violent and uncontrolled burst of chakra that Anko's seal had caused. He still couldn't understand why the second level of the seal had failed to activate, though. Was he missing something? It was as if he was missing some sort of catalyst that would trigger the change.

"Would you at least tell me why you won't even think about it?" Jiraiya asked, exasperated.

Orochimaru had quickly gotten a reign over his emotions, and it was only with a small sigh that he set down his brush. It was obvious that he'd get nothing done with Jiraiya in the room. "Because, my well-meaning but fatally idiotic friend, I have better things to do than accepting potentially suicidal missions. Like revising the jutsu I'm researching and looking for missions that won't get me killed.

"Besides," he continued, "the entire purpose of Minato-kun's deal with me was to keep me _inside_ the village. Tagging along with you on an S-rank equivalent surgical strike which involves infiltrating deep into Iwagakure in an attempt to assassinate the Tsuchikage would be understandably counter-productive."

Jiraiya pouted - the sight made Orochimaru shudder and look away - and said, "Well, we don't _have_ to kill him, per se. Just spook him. Get him shivering in his sandals, you know? Put the fear of toads and snakes into him."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "It's obvious you're not taking this mission seriously, so you must have some sort of ulterior motive. I must profess that I'm curious about how you bullshitted this to Sarutobi. He's old, but he's certainly not senile."

"The old man knows we're not going to assassinate anybody. I told him."

Orochimaru paused, mild surprise evident in his amber eyes. "And he still let you propose a mission that would take us both out of Fire Country, the very thing that Minato-kun surmised would prompt a full-scale assault on Konoha?"

"I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Orochimaru," Jiraiya said, snorting. "While we're not really going to off the Tsuchikage, _he_ doesn't need to know that. He sent a squad to kill the old man, right? He'll be expecting some kind of retaliation once he realizes they didn't make it. We'll just spread a few rumors here and there, intentionally get noticed a few times along the way, and voila - he'll think we're coming to return the favor. With Minato and the old man both here, Iwa can't be a hundred percent sure of victory unless they attack with absolutely everything they've got, and they can't risk leaving their own village undefended when two of Konoha's finest are going to assassinate their leader."

"Jiraiya, you are exactly as stupid as I know you are," Orochimaru replied smoothly. "Has it occurred to you that a full assault would also _include_ the Tsuchikage? Not to mention that if we got ourselves killed, Konoha would be doomed? I highly doubt that Sarutobi would sanction such a risky mission for an objective which you have yet to disclose."

Jiraiya shook his head, the expression on his face that of a man explaining an obvious fact to a very young child. "An attack of that scale would take time to mobilize. If we're halfway to Earth Country by the time they know we've left, then they can't risk us slipping in and striking while they're busy getting prepared. Besides, he agreed with me that the real goal of this mission is worth the risk."

Orochimaru thought it over for a minute before grimacing. "You've certainly planned this out, haven't you?" he said grudgingly; he hated losing to Jiraiya in anything, and arguments were no exception.

"Alright. Say for a moment that this harebrained farce of yours won't result in Konoha's annihilation, and for some unfathomable reason I end up following you. If you're _not_ going to assassinate the Tsuchikage, then just what kind of business do you have in Earth Country that requires my presence as well?"

Jiraiya hemmed and hawwed for a minute before replying, grinning sheepishly. "Well, y'see... According to my sources, Tsunade was last seen gambling in an Earth Country casino..."

Orochimaru looked his terminally insane friend in the eyes to make sure he wasn't making a joke, decided he wasn't, and decisively turned away. "No."


End file.
